Amnesty International Report 1998 - Belgium

(This report covers the period January-December 1997) There were new allegations that members of the Belgian armed forces had tortured and ill-treated Somalis, including children, in 1993 while participating in the UN-authorized multinational peace- keeping operation in Somalia. In March and April new information came to light about alleged human rights abuses carried out in 1993 by Belgian soldiers in Somalia. The military prosecutor's office immediately opened judicial investigations into the allegations. In June, two former paratroopers were tried by a military court on charges of assault and battery with menaces, committed on an unidentified Somali boy. Evidence at the trial included a photograph showing the boy being swung over an open fire by the accused. The paratroopers were acquitted, apparently on the grounds that there was no conclusive evidence that the boy had suffered actual bodily harm or had felt that his life was in danger. The military prosecutor appealed against the verdict, but the acquittal was confirmed in December. The trials of a sergeant accused of force-feeding a Somali child, a Muslim, with pork and salted water until he vomited; and of a sergeant major photographed urinating on the apparently dead body of a young Somali, were scheduled for September. In the meantime, however, further information about these and other alleged abuses by Belgian soldiers, came to light. All the court hearings were immediately adjourned in order to allow the military prosecutor's office to investigate this new information, which had been collected by a Somali human rights organization. Other alleged abuses by Belgian soldiers were being investigated by the military authorities at the end of the year. They included the rape of a teenage Somali girl and the death of a child after 48 hours spent locked in a metal container in intense heat, without food or water. The Minister of Defence ordered the General commanding the Belgian ground forces to carry out an internal investigation into alleged abuses by Belgian troops. In statements made in July and August, the Minister and the General announced that the inquiry had found that isolated, individual instances of human rights abuses by soldiers had occurred. They expressed concern about the presence within the army of "a small group of soldiers belonging to a political party holding extreme views" and the Minister advocated an independent inquiry on racism within the army. The statements also highlighted the need to improve army training – including the provision of more information on humanitarian law – and recruitment and selection procedures; to address excessive delays in disciplinary proceedings; and to tackle alcohol abuse. In September the General proposed specific reforms in some of these areas. In July Amnesty International wrote to the Minister of Defence, expressing concern about the alleged human rights violations, welcoming the prompt opening of judicial investigations and asking to be informed of their outcome. The organization sought further information about several trials of Belgian soldiers which had taken place in previous years following a 1993 inquiry into alleged ill-treatment and unlawful killings by Belgian forces in Somalia, carried out by a commission comprising three army officers and a civilian assistant to the Minister of Defence (see Amnesty International Report 1994 Somalia entry). Amnesty International asked for the findings and precise terms of reference of the internal army investigation carried out in 1997. The organization inquired whether the authorities had considered holding a comprehensive inquiry, independent of the military, into alleged human rights abuses by Belgian troops in Somalia, in order to ensure a demonstrably impartial examination of the facts. No reply had been received by the end of the year.